A place for a tired old woman to try to figure things out so that the world makes a bit of sense.

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Another Shot Across The Bow

(Political cartoon by David Horsey and published 3/7/13 in the Los Angeles Times. Click on image to enlarge and then return.)

Yesterday, I posted on Horsey's second cartoon on the morass which is the 113th Congress, so I thought it would be appropriate to give you the first, especially given the news since he posted both. If he does post the Last Supper cartoon, you can count on seeing it on Sunday.

Since then, Congressman Paul Ryan has returned to the fray, suggesting that what the country needs is the repeal of Obamacare. Yes, I know he's not a senator and therefore wasn't invited to dinner with the president, but the effect will be the same. From the Los Angeles Times:

Rep. Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin, last year's Republican vice presidential nominee, said Sunday his forthcoming budget proposal will include repeal of "Obamacare," as his party calls it. That position puts tea-party conservatives at odds with others in the GOP who want to find common ground with Obama on the nation's fiscal woes after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the health law.

In the Senate, conservatives will press for a vote this week to delay funding for the health law as part of a bill that must pass to keep the government running beyond March 27.

"We say we get rid of 'Obamacare,' " Ryan said on "Fox News Sunday." ...

Key to Ryan's blueprint, to be unveiled Tuesday, is a return to a proposed Medicare overhaul that would create a voucher-like system for the next generation of seniors – when those who are now 55 or 56 become eligible for the program at 65. Under Ryan's plan, seniors would be given a set amount to apply toward the purchase of private health insurance or toward the cost of Medicare. [Emphasis added]

Ryan claims his stance is not an attempt to wrest Boehner's speakership away, and that may very well be true. It's more likely that he is stirring the pot in anticipation of running for his party's nomination in 2016 and he wants to keep his credibility with his Tea Party backers.

But the effect in the here-and-now is to put both House and Senate in the position of having to deal with the issue, which means both Obamacare funding and Medicare will be on the agenda. It will, once again, push the discussion to the right, and that means our President (not the world's finest negotiator) will probably find a way to cave.